The weather is specially different in Texas today as it is a high of 54 degrees sandwiched by days in the 70’s and 80’s. Even more special is the great event here in Fort Worth known as Bark-tober Fest where they hold their annual Howl-oween Costume Contest for mans best friends.

My lovely and I took Miko in her cute ladybug costume that I bought for fun last Halloween. For those wondering Miko is about a year and a half years old and a spit-fire ball of energy. This event would be one of the greatest she would experience so far and hopefully expend some of that energy she has!

The park, which is about a half acre big, was swimming with dogs and their humans. One side is normally dedicated to the larger dogs while the other would occupy the smaller breeds of dogs. The entire side where the larger dogs play was comfortably packed and to add to the fun there were booths of all sorts lined up with all sorts of fun goodies for our furry counterparts and a few bounce houses for the kids to play in.

We arrived earlier than the costume contest was to start so we took our little girl to the small side and had her run around before the event started. Yipping and yelping she excitedly joins the other dogs making several friends and annoying a few others (haha).

Now, Miko LOVES (loves doesn’t even describe it enough) water! But today she almost died from it as well. Whenever we go to the park she goes straight for the community water bowls, buckets and tubs for all the dogs and rapidly drinks water and bathes herself in the buckets or tubs. Here is a video to one of her typical escapades.

So, obviously we always carry a spare towel in the car for these moments of triumph :)

Today though, she goes up to one of the buckets, full of water this time (usually they are half empty), and dives right in. We think it will fall over soon, like always, or she will get herself out, but in a quick turn of events she starts struggling to find her way out as her front end is deep in the bucket and her back end is flailing about. We are close by and jump to her rescue. Our hearts pounding we grab our towel and have her put up on the table.

She is just fine! In fact I don’t think she even realized she was in a very dangerous situation!*

*Dogs are amazing in this way, they are constantly living in the moment. To me, I believe humans have a certain delay in response time, but for dogs its literally boom-boom-boom, they are 20 moments ahead of you already.

She is just wagging her tail, excited to be toweled dry and ready to join the other dogs in the chilly weather once again. I was so relieved as it was one of those times where I felt like one moment everything is okay and the next you can immediately see the helplessness. I was just glad we acted fast and Miko is safe!

Everyone was worried and watching, but once they saw her big smile and how quickly she recovered they all laughed and started exclaiming how energetic and happy she is.

Life can take you by surprise as today has, but luckily it ended well for us all.

After moving around for a while and visiting with all the cutie-pies that pranced over to lick our hands it was time for the costume contest! The contest went so well that only pictures can describe its greatness, enjoy!

Here are the finalists of the contest:

Third Place went to……

SLASH!

Second place went to…..

The Mariachi Band!

And finally. What we have all been waiting for. First place went tooo……

OSCAR THE GROUCH! :D

We met so many great people and so many beautiful and diverse pups today. I will say that this event was an extraordinary highlight of the season and I hope you enjoyed it too!

“Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing. ” –Thomas Edison

I concur whole-heartily Mr. Edison. Where ever it is we are headed in our personal life is a journey worth being awake for. I do not mean “awake” in the sense of waking up from a nap, but awake to the fact that whatever you dream of, you can have. You must put forth real effort and take true strides that go up the stairs, not staying in one place and making the motions as if on a stair-stepper. There is viable differences in keeping busy towards your dreams as opposed to simply keeping busy.

I thought it would be nice to give you an idea of who I am and who I want to be. Who you are reading from/about really? For starters I want to share with you an abridged list of things I want and want to accomplish, this includes materialistic things, what I want to do and what I want to be. I think it is something everyone should have/make for themselves! It is quite a fun list to make when you open your mind and your heart to what you really want out of this life!

Keep in mind, none of these are in any particular order :)

a. Italian citizenship

b. iPhone 4S

c. Grab and go travel secure bag/purse

d. Successful entrepreneur (good to be specific ;) )

e. Pilot a helicopter

f. Being able and spontaneously taking a plane trip to where-ever I want (!)

g. Travel to Italy

h. Build an awesome, off the grid, totally livable, tree-house (ridiculous sounding ones are typically the best to experience)

i. Lose all the extra weight I have gained over the years

Think I could have made it any more difficult for myself? Of course, but I am not going into that today. ;) haha

I have been working solely on a few. In fact I found and purchased my “Grab and Go, travel secure, Bag/Purse” The Pacsafe Venturesafe 300.

So far, I absolutely love this bag! There is so much room and organizational pockets that I have had no issues with it holding all of my stuff with plenty more room left over. I really want to test this out as an overnight bag for when the time comes to take that spontaneous trip I can just load this bad boy up with an extra set of clothes (and the necessary hygienic accessories i.e. toothbrush, toothpaste, deo etc) and go!

d. I have the idea and the product, but I am still researching the legalities perspective of starting a business :(. I know that after this hump I have it pretty well planned out! I am excited!

i. Started the Slow Carb Diet today… Yea. hah, thats all I really have to say! Just kidding, its not the most joyous diet I’ve been on, like weight watchers and calorie counting, but reality is you have to make sacrifices to lose the weight and who said that was supposed to be fun?! Alas, I will see the worth and results of this diet clearly enough in the coming weeks :)

I hope you had a bright day! I will leave you with this cute picture of Miko <3

Personally, I would have no idea how to craft and interpret something that inspired me in such a beautiful way that she has, but this was so simple and adorable I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share!

Also, to be honest, I had never heard of the film Fantastic Mr.Fox until I read her post. She describes the movie and some characters without giving the story line away, immediately I knew through her post it was something I had to watch and experience too!

With that said; Aspire to your dreams and everything you do put forth intent from the heart. There is nothing stronger and flaws do not exist. When there is true and honest intentions coming from the heart, without realizing, you reflect that to those around you and they will see how much you truly care. This is what creates pure happiness and leads us to greater and more worthwhile lives that I can only wish for everyone.

I wish I could make this a reality for everyone I come into contact with, but it is a path we each have to walk for ourselves. Not to say, “Don’t ask for help” because we all need help sometimes, but it is our own journey that no one else can walk it for us.

Continue to reach for your dreams for they appear to be dwelling with the stars, but are only arms length away. –Me! :3

So. There is talk and then there is action. Talk is ever-present in this day and age, but action is for those with the courage and guts to get real results.

As you may or may not know, one of my many goals has been to receive dual citizenship with Italy per jure sanguinis.Jur sanguinis is a way to obtain an Italian citizenship if you can prove you have blood lineage from an Italian citizen. I am hoping to qualify through my maternal Great-Grandfather who was born and raised in Italy.

The other day, already having the necessary resources (the internet of course haha), I set my mind to accomplishing the next step. Turns out, first I needed to verify when my Great-Grandfather became naturalized in the US and the cheepest way to do that was to send a request form directly with the USCIS for only $20. Unlike other websites where they are graciously willing to take a check for $200+ for the same info.

Though the start was short, I was very relieved to put my first foot forward. Now I am waiting for the result before I can actually start running with it.

Have you ever gone through the passport process? For your current country of residence or even from a foreign country? I would like to hear your experience, whatever or wherever it may have been :)

Personally, I have had to go through 2 passports here in the US because I lost my first one :( First time I needed a passport was when I went to Germany with my best friend at the time. The second was for a trip to Guam with my boyfriend since him and his family are from there. I haven’t lost that one yet! Yay for me!

Another project of mine that I have been working on for the last few weeks is officially completed. I am going through my pics to make a tutorial out of later. I think that would be especially neat to share with you :) Muahaha! Now you have to come back to check out my blog later ;)

Today, particularly hot, my sister, my nephew and I head downtown to check out a trade show being held out there. As we found our way in the building we peered inside the holding room seeing if it was worth paying the admissions fee. After a brief moment of inner debate we mutually agreed on what to do. We found our way out and ventured into the depths downtown.

Sidewalk View

So thus after grabbing a bite to eat we walked to the Water Gardens a few blocks down and went on a mini adventure, escapading through the many, well… water gardens! I took this as an opportunity to practice on my photography skills.

I also made it a personal goal to roam outside my comfort zone and ask at least one random person if I may take a photo of them to post to my blog…

It may not seem like much, but I get this daunting feeling inside that overwhelms me when it comes to reaching out to strangers. But, when I get to the brass taxes of it all there is nothing to lose. By setting my goal to ask a complete stranger if I can take a picture of them for my blog could have held one of two results; A) They could say yes or B) They could say no. I would not lose a body part and neither would they(!), both parties move on happily.

The Lucky Lady, Herself!

Both missions were successful in my opinion and it really helped remind me (and also prove to myself first hand) that I am the only one establishing limits to myself. By moving, even if by an inch, from my comfort zone I will succeed and reap the rewards of what I set my mind to do. Mini goals throughout the day really add up and the benefits are endless!

Decorated Tree

I came to a realization that to challenge yourself is the best way to grow. To challenge yourself gives you something to strive for and eventually you can make the requests of yourself bigger and bigger until one day you realize you just tackled and succeeded with your biggest dream! Today were small tasks, but they opened so many new doors and I just have to take the next step tomorrow.

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I'm here sharing my experiences, using techniques that I have adopted along the way to achieve my life goals. Join me on my blog and explore the diverse crafts, personal research and successes (as they come).